grateful morning

nearly all my life

 have awakened happy

my years of questioning

the attributes of God

have turned into a lifetime

of recognizing i – and no one –

is large enough to state

an absolute definition

but those years of questioning

the existence of God

were always dissolved

by realizing i would have no one

to thank for morning

new friend

a new friend

from a part of the country

i know little about

raised in undertones

my childhood never felt

yet sharing a sense of self-worth

and dignity we both

must have known

since we could first print

our own names